Recent reviews by Luiz Alves

Very nice imagery and an exquisite soundtrack create a short, surreal experience reminiscent of Samorost, Neverhood and that creepy Mysterious Stranger from the Adventures of Mark Twain.

ABZÛ is precisely what I expected from it: a relaxing, poetic, introverted experience, one of those in which the journey is more important than the destination - although the final segment and ending are awesomely beautiful. A simple gameplay, meant for exploration and contemplation (there are even meditation spots for you to stop and appreciate the scenery. There are a whole lot of memorable moments (swimming with blue whales, for example) and the soundtrack makes everything into a very emotional ride. It's easy, it's short and may be boring for some action-oriented players, but it's just the perfect kind of experience to me.

The highly immersive graphics and soundtrack help create an atmosphere that is perfect for the themes of claustrophobia, abandonment and existentialism. The puzzle solving is one of those that make you feel smarter when you figure them out. Deep and philosophical story. A must play, in every way.

I've got this game in one of those "free" gifts from a gaming magazine back in the 90s. This was before the internet and my knowledge of what was going on in the scene was very limited.

This game evoked feelings like no other back then, with its fantasy worlds, funny characters and lovely soundtrack. In a reality where all I had were platformers, a 3D game with an open world, mysteries, secrets and an amazing art direction was nothing short of mindblowing. This is one of the Steam releases I celebrated the most, and being able to go back to Twinsun and seeing that, like old friends, that initial charm was still there, only atests to the quality and soul of this game.

This game could be summed up in "GTA with Triads". And that's a great thing.

First because Hong Kong and the Chinese gangster scene isn't a properly explored field in gaming as a whole. So you have a rich universe, deep characters and an immersive, breathing city, all wrapped up in gorgeous art direction and graphics and nice gameplay.

I won't write about the plot, because in my opinion, the impact and involvement is always stronger when you arrive unbiased. But I can say the story develops as a good Chinese cop movie, with nods to 70's grindhouse flicks and even B-movies here and there.

You have a huge city to explore, on foot or using one out of a crapload of vehicles at your disposal (one way or another). You have tons of stuff to do other than the story missions (favors, jobs, collectibles, events, fight clubs, street races, collectibles, challenges among your friends via Social Hub... did I say collectibles?). A very nice experience for the regular OCD gamer.

The game focuses on fighting instead of gun firing, and I also liked this a lot. Dozens of bone-breaking, spine-chilling ultraviolent moves to beat the heck out of bad guys. Then you jump in a car and engage into an action movie chase, driving with one hand and shooting enemies' tires with the other. Explosions and slow motions abound. Situations like this are common.

One thing that caught my attention is the missions never get repetitive. Or at least they don't look as much. Even if you're using the same mechanics, you're always doing different stuff. There's the obligatory fetch quests. You scare people who don't pay your boss. You take your girlfriend for a stroll. You hijack armored trucks. You hack cameras, pick locks, plant bugs. You break into a guy's house to mess with his Feng Shui. There's even a mission where you must sing horribly in karaoke, on purpose, to help a guy convince his girlfriend to leave the place. How 'bout that?

The voice acting is very good, and the vehicles you take give access to several radios of different styles of music, from 80s pop to hard rock, cheesy Asian tunes and even classical. Nothing compares to find yourself running away from the police while listening to Debussy's Clair de Lune.

I played this via Big Picture with a 360 controller and the experience was pretty tight. I had no technical problems.

Had good laughs with this game. And "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" moments, and edge-of-seat moments, and "In yo face punk!" moments. So I highly recommed this game and the extra DLC chapters (Zodiac Tournament, Year of the Snake, Nightmare), which are also tons of fun.

Everyone should play this series. Everyone.